National Geographic Traveler - USA (2019-12 & 2020-01)

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IF YOU LIKE

WHY GO NOW

Feel your paradigms shift at the world’s

oldest known temple complex

Built about 11,600 years ago, the

monumental limestone pillars at Göbekli

Tepe, or Potbelly Hill, have been hiding

in plain sight for millennia. Excavation

of the megaliths only began in the mid-

1990s. The archaeological site is located

in southeastern Turkey, at the northern

edge of the Fertile Crescent region that

nurtured early civilizations.

Much of the massive Göbekli Tepe

site remains underground and a mys-

tery. What has been revealed—primarily

circles and rectangles of massive stones

decorated with bas-reliefs of boars,

foxes, and gazelles—comprise the

world’s oldest known temple complex.

The extraordinary discoveries made

here have rewritten the story of how the

first civilizations began. Contrary to the

long-held belief that the world’s earliest

permanent settlements developed due

to agriculture, Göbekli Tepe suggests

that the impetus was a desire for a

place of worship. Researchers theorize

that it was built by hunter-gatherers

as a regional meeting point and that

agriculture was born out of the need

to feed all the people involved in the

unprecedented construction effort.

VISIT

GÖBEKLI TEPE

CULTURE

HOW TO GO

Before visiting Göbekli

Tepe, tour the nearby

Şanlıurfa Archaeology

and Mosaic Museum

to see a replica of

the temple and

artifacts from the site.

goturkeytourism.com

WHEN

TO GO

AFRICA

EUROPE ASIA

IND.

OCEAN

IND.

OCEAN

MAR-

MAY

ARCHAEOLOGY

TURKEY

BEST TRIPS 20 20

A replica of the

16th-century Stari

Most (Old Bridge)

spans the Neretva

River in Mostar.